Understanding Email Quotas and Storage Print

An email quota is the most space an email account is allowed to use. Keeping an eye on it stops your mailbox filling up and bouncing new email.

Checking How Much Space You're Using

In cPanel

1. Log in to cPanel (see How to Log In to cPanel)
2. In the Email section, click Email Accounts
3. The Storage: Used / Allocated column shows how much each account is using

In Webmail

In Roundcube, your usage is shown at the bottom left of the screen.

Default Quotas

• New email accounts can have a set limit or be Unlimited
• Unlimited accounts can grow until your hosting plan's total disk space is used up
• You can change the limit on any account at any time

Changing an Account's Quota

1. In cPanel, go to Email Accounts
2. Click Manage next to the email account
3. Under Allocated Storage Space, enter a number in MB, or choose Unlimited
4. Click Update Email Settings

What Uses Up Your Quota

Everything stored in the account counts, including:

• Your inbox
• Sent mail, drafts and any folders you've created
• The spam and trash folders
• Attachments

Freeing Up Space

Delete What You Don't Need

• Empty your Trash and Spam folders
• Delete old newsletters and notifications
• Search for emails with large attachments and delete them once you've saved the files

Archive Old Email

• Use an email app like Outlook or Thunderbird to save older emails to your computer
• Once they're safely saved, delete them from the server

Using POP3?

If you use POP3 instead of IMAP, set your email app to remove messages from the server after downloading them. Most people are better off with IMAP, which keeps all your devices in sync.

What Happens When an Account Is Full?

• New incoming email is rejected
• The sender gets a message saying your mailbox is full
• Messages you send may not be saved to your Sent folder
• You can still log in and delete email to free up space

Tips

• Clean out your mailbox every month or so
• Empty the trash, since deleted email still counts until it's gone
• Share large files with a link from a service like OneDrive or Google Drive, instead of attaching them
• Keep an eye on usage so you're not caught out

Need More Space?

• Raise the quota on the account
• Upgrade your hosting plan for more total disk space
• Contact our support team for advice